Ice, Ice, Baby 2025

[Trail Talk]

I decided to go with the Inkbird temp control box instead so that I could dial in the on/off settings.

Thanks for introducing me to Inkbird! They have a lot of options

 

[Trail Talk]

I came across a product from GMI Energy that offers a ready-made solution. Have reached out for details.

 

[waveslider]

This is the unit I was speaking of. Now that I understand what you’re trying to do - I don’t think it will help much but posting anyway if anyone is interested.

 

[Singler3360]

I came across a product from GMI Energy that offers a ready-made solution. Have reached out for details.

View attachment 870335

Thanks for posting this. I saw something similar to this when I was looking. With 5 batteries I decided on the cheaper DIY solution fist. So far so good.

 

[Trail Talk]

With 5 batteries I decided on the cheaper DIY solution fist. So far so good.

Yeah, cost is the biggest barrier to the GMI product. OTOH they will custom-make for the odd TALL H7/GC12 battery size. Their heater covers the battery on five sides and has two elements which can be operated independently. Actually I'm lazy and its cold outside (-36°C wind chill today) so the prospect of fussing with any DIY project in time for our next trip is not appealing .

I also received a quote from Ultraheat, who will provide a DIY component kit, and was surprised to find it was actually slightly more than GMI's ready-made solution.

And to cover all bases, I learned that a new self-heating version of my battery was just released by the manufacturer (clearly the industry knows the problem). I reached out to their tech support to see if mine can be upgraded. A week has passed without a response so I'll take that as a "no". The retailer quoted me for new batteries, which turns out to be roughly 4X the cost of the aftermarket heaters from GMI or Ultraheat. Gawd, that throws a monkey wrench into my calculations. Wonder if there's a market for used LiFePO4 batteries?

 

[Trail Talk]

Explored the heated battery from Discover Blue...actually, I ordered a couple...and when I dived into the manual was surprised to learn that heat was only available while these batteries are on shore power! Not gonna work for us but the good folks at Canadian Energy allowed me to cancel. I've now ordered the GMI battery heater which "may" arrive in time for our next trip North.

 

[Trail Talk]

On our theme of "ICE", went for a stroll to the ongoing Ice Climbing World Cup event. The general lack of ice won't stop them!





Nervously checking road conditions daily in anticipation of our departure in a couple of weeks. Still looking good further North.

 

[Trail Talk]

Winter battery issues solved! These heated aluminum trays draw 1A each and are thermostatically controlled to turn on at 5°C and off at 20°C. Made to fit our unusual H7 or GC12 case size.





Will monitor our battery temps to see if we need to use the supplied neoprene sleeves. If we do, I'd rather avoid having to disconnect everything to pull them on and off so my spouse is busy sewing velcro strips for wrap-around installation.

That's one thing off the list. Now to look into this door issue...

 

[Singler3360]

Excellent. Thanks for sharing. EDIT: Can you post a make/model or a link to this product? Is there a way to adjust the temp range? It seems turning off at 20c is a little warm.

 

[Trail Talk]

Excellent. Thanks for sharing. EDIT: Can you post a make/model or a link to this product? Is there a way to adjust the temp range? It seems turning off at 20c is a little warm.

Google GMI Energy battery heater. It depends alot on the ambient temperature. For the last week that I’ve had these on, the batteries sat around 10C. FWIW my battery manual states 20C is the ideal storage temperature.

 

[Trail Talk]

Finally our 2025 ice road adventure is underway. First stop is Fort McMurray AB.



The charred evidence of a devastating fire in 2016 is all around, but new growth is starting to add some colour to the landscape. Tomorrow we arrive at the first winter road which will take us the back way into Wood Buffalo National Park. No shore power from here on.

 

[Singler3360]

Bon voyage!

 

[Trail Talk]

The Fort Chipewyan winter road was in excellent shape this year. Not so much the Moose Island portion that follows where a teeth-chattering 30kph is good progress. It was fun to stop on a frozen Athabasca River and reflect on many canoe trips from its headwaters in the Rocky Mountains.



Arrived at Hay River after a wonderful night of star gazing and aurora watching in the heart of Wood Buffalo National Park. Those clear skies meant a rather brisk -27C in the morning!



Unfortunately my antique single lens iphone doesn't capture night scenes very well.

Tonight we spend on the shores of Great Slave Lake courtesy of a local gent who remarked, “If you are crazy enough to come up here, I can put you up for the night”.



Edit: the setting sun revealed itself just after I posted.

 

[waveslider]

Great Slave Lake…..birthplace of the ducks I’m watching out my window right now in SW Idaho…

 

[Trail Talk]

For any fans of the TV show Ice Pilots NWT, we saw the Buffalo Air C46 Curtis Commando coming in to Hay River. It was too distant for a decent photo so I borrowed this from flickr, but the noise of those radials is mighty impressive.